The days of the cookie or bake sale as fundraiser are long past. Even the car wash doesn’t bring in as much as it used to. When the goal is to go way beyond the hundreds and bring in thousands of dollars for a cause, groups have turned to the big events to draw in the bigger spenders, such as community luncheons or the charity golf tournament.

David HayesPress reporter

Might I suggest another such option — the amateur poker tournament.

Ever since Chris Moneymaker (never a better name for a topic) won the 2004 World Series of Poker, everyone and their sister has tried their hand at Texas Hold ’Em. As the old timers say, it only takes a minute to learn, but a lifetime to master.

But if mastery is not your goal, then consider a fun time to be had by all. Every event has enough players with the knowhow to guide the newbies into knowing when to hold ’em, when to fold ’em, and when to walk away (hat tip to Kenny Rogers).

And I just happen to know a place right here in Issaquah that has a gambling license, blessed by the state, that allows sanctioned fundraisers for just said purpose — the Lake Sammamish Elks Lodge.

Issaquah’s annual celebration returns for 42nd year

The mild temperatures — misty clouds on Oct. 1 yielded to stray sunshine Oct. 2 — belied a rowdy theme, and crowds turned out in droves for the salmon-centric celebration.

The festival unfolded as a tribute to the untamed under the theme “Wild Things!” — a riff on the classic children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are.”

Salmon Days spanned Issaquah, from hydroplane races on Lake Sammamish to booths lined up downtown to a float-filled parade inching along city streets. The festival lured more than 150,000 people to Issaquah as the annual autumn celebration returned for a 42nd year.

To celebrate the occasion, Maple Valley resident Bob Taylor ordered a Flintstonian turkey leg from a Foods of the World booth along the trolley track and tore off a bite from the outsized drumstick.

Players of all skill levels invited to series of charity tournaments

ESPN’s live coverage of the 2011 World Series of Poker main event has the side effect of getting people’s blood pumping to join in on the action.

Participants of the Elks Lodge poker league get ready to shuffle up and deal at a recent tournament’s final table. By Tina Eggers

Whether you’re in search of some poker action outside the home game or somewhere closer than a card room or casino, then look no further than Issaquah’s Lake Sammamish Elks Lodge No. 1843.

The 2011 fall Texas Hold ’Em Poker League starts Aug. 27 and organizers are looking for more players to fill out the roster.

The league, now in its sixth year, has attracted players of varying skill levels. Sharyn Solum, 65, recently retired, was looking for a hobby to fill her free time when a former city co-worker and Elks member introduced her to the action.

“Tina Eggers brought me in to try it out,” Solum said regarding Issaquah’s city clerk. “I’d been playing for a couple of years but learned a lot more from the more experienced players.”

The league follows the same format as any other tournament, with only a few differences. Played each month the first and third Saturday (the league kicks off early Aug. 27 because of the holiday weekend Sept. 3), players buy in for $35 and may re-buy as many times as they want when they go broke for the first three rounds of action.

Unfortunately, a police report is only funny as long as it happens to someone else.

Last week, the Elks Lodge was broken into in an incident you will most likely read about soon on the blotter page. As a member, I was enraged to discover the breach of our public sanctum. Secretary Don Schafer went to work June 30 to discover his office door open, which he always locks when he leaves. After discovering his office trashed, he feared the worst.

“When I saw the bar area, I said, ‘Oh, shit’ and called the police,” Schafer said.

Stephen Jacobson did so well on the SAT, he’s teaching a course to help others ace the test.

Stephen Jacobson

Jacobson, a 2009 graduate of Issaquah High School, earned a 2,380 out of a possible 2,400 on his SAT exam. Now, the sophomore at Vanderbilt University is majoring in mechanical engineering and minoring in engineering management.

Not surprisingly, math is his favorite section of the SAT, but he has an encyclopedia of tips he plans to share concerning the reading and writing sections, too.

“It’s about beating the test,” Jacobson said. “It’s not about knowing everything.”

This past year, Ivy Insiders, a program offered through Revolution Prep, contacted Jacobson, asking him if he would teach a prep SAT class this summer in Issaquah. The hiring process for Ivy Insiders is selective; only undergraduates who have scored in the 99th percentiles on the SAT within the past three years can teach the company’s classes.

The company also looks at leadership qualities, and was impressed with his résumé, which included earning his Eagle Scout badge and placement as a National Merit scholar.

“Stephen is our ideal instructor,” Ivy Insiders Program Director Jane Gagnon said. “He was a community leader in high school and he scored fabulously well on the SAT. We thought that Stephen would be the perfect role model.”